reMarkable Paper Pro - I Was Hoping for More…..Unboxing and First Impressions

[@dpav02]

I have a 13.3” Boox Max Lumi (hated it), Supernote A5X (It was better but still found the device clunky) I just got the Remarkable Paper Pro and I’m in love. How fast it is to create a quick sheet and then move it later works extremely well with my workflow and brain.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing? How have you been liking the colors? Have they distracted you at all or just been a nice tool?

[@dpav02]

@@Graf-XTechReviewsI like them! I personally don’t find it distracting. But to be honest I only use 1) Yellow highlighter 2) Green 3) Red I use them as a way to have more important parts of my notes stand out. I *do* wish you could use the selection tool and then change the color of what you wrote. That would fit my workflow even more. Write everything in black and highlight or change colors as needed. For now I will often erase a word and write it again in red or green.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Gotcha that makes a lot of sense! I think that’s what I will find works the best for me. Mostly black, with a splash of color for emphasis or importance. Thanks for letting me know, that’s great information!

[@christinamarzec4540]

Great review, in-depth and touches on issues that I would care about. I use my RM2 all day, work, school and home. I’m sticking with what I have for now. Appreciate the review.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Of course, and I’ll be going even more in depth with it coming up, but I’m glad it was able to give you some good information!

[@JMaxwell1000]

Another excellent review here with an honest assessment. At first, I was really sold on the Paper Pro - until I learned that you cannot attach a thumb drive via the USBC port! THAT is a deal-breaker. Both the Supernote and the Penstar allow you to offload all your files onto a thumb drive for safe-keeping. Remarkable missed the boat on this one.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yup I’m with you there, it’s those kinds of things that just doesn’t make sense to me why they don’t have them. It’s not distracting to be able to use it more offline, in fact, it’s quite the opposite! It just doesn’t make sense to me

[@enlightenment00]

What about the front light, is it good enough to brighten the screen up ? it seems not strong enough. They shoud make it stronger. I don't know how they make their decisions, but this is something very basic and important, and this is not a "distraction" lol

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

It’s good enough, when the room is dark and you just need to see what you’re writing, but it doesn’t really provide any brightness for during the day

[@enlightenment00]

@@Graf-XTechReviews 😅😅😅

[@AlexCdeBacatech]

Lack of direct integration with apps I already use, no kindle/ebook/manga reader integration, expensive pen and cover, no manual screen refresh, and $3 a month app subscription after the 100 days makes this beautiful device a no for me. Great review though! Thank you! Wish it worked for me. I’ve been super impressed with my Boox Note Air 3 C and love its look, feel, and integration with everything I already use without any subscription!

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah that makes a lot of sense, I don’t blame you at all! My big things is lack of a manual refresh and indexing. I would like a kindle app too or the ability to download .apk files, but I don’t see that happening 😂 thanks for sharing!

[@MyLifeInTheDesert]

@@AlexCdeBacatech can you write I. Color with the air 3C ?

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

@MyLifeInTheDesert yes the Note Air 3C had color. It’s a bit different kind of color e-ink technology, but yeah it does have it!

[@MyLifeInTheDesert]

@@Graf-XTechReviewsI just looked up the device and it’s pretty impressive. I see that something like that could replace the kindle too. Now you have me torn!

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

@MyLifeInTheDesert sorry about that!😂 but I don’t own any Boox devices because I wasn’t a big fan of actually using them. Maybe I should try and get one again and compare it side by side with this one?

[@jakeham4017]

The inability to produce true black is a significant drawback for me. I appreciate your review.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah I don’t like it either. Glad I could help!

[@ThomasHoffDE]

I a, returning mine and keeping my RM2. It’s grey not white. RM2 is just better as a note-taking device imo. It’s lighter, no flicker and just better imo. Color is more of a distraction than benefit for me. Great for pdfs but not my use-case.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

@ThomasHoffDE yeah that’s totally fair, we’ll see if I come to that same conclusion after some time. Thanks for sharing!

[@neurojitsu]

I think that these e-inks, and especially the remarkables (I have the remarkable 2 and use it extensively), need to be reviewed in use on a real workflow in order to show their true colours. These are as much about what's missing as what's there, and I appreciate their orientation towards "focus" on the task. So the question really is whether the shortcomings you identify get in the way of your work. That said, for me what is missing from this new device is a colour wheel (the colour picker is a little too paired down, and doesn't seem to give access to the range of colour the screen can resolve), and better search and notes organisation. I'd love to see something like the Goodnotes app's "Outline" function, that allows you to easily create an index of pages/notes in a document - the tags are not always a good way to organise and find your notes. Beyond that, I'd like to see them develop the desktop software into a powerhouse software for getting your notes out of the remarkable and exporting them or processing them - they have hinted at AI, and this is where I see it being super useful, not on the device but for workflow off device on desktop, laptop or phone - more of a true companion app.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah I completely agree with you. I’m excited to keep using the RPP in my workflow and see how well it does, just looking at specs doesn’t really do it for e-ink, so that why I’m starting to use it everyday and I want to see how it goes for my workflow and the positives and negatives of that. And yeah better note indexing is a big thing I’d like to see. And especially cause there’s subscription fees for their services and apps, I hope they are constantly making changes and improvements on them!

[@neurojitsu]

Just a thought: if you are a user of AI services like Anthropic (with Claude's new "Projects" functionality in mind) and ChatGPT, it would a great video to test how exported notes from a reMarkable device can be ingested and processed using AI... it might even help nudge reMarkable to implement more functionality into their apps! I'm currently considering if I will upgrade to the RPP or stick with my rM2 and I have to say the decision is at best 50/50 at the moment. I see no real benefits for my personal workflows of the colour screen alone, and currently the software doesn't seem a step up from the rM2 either. In honesty, my perfect device would be a blend of Supernote software and reMarkable hardware...

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Oh yes please! A remarkable with Supernote hardware would be a dream come true for sure! Yeah I’ll see what I can do with that suggestion, I’m not a big user of AI, but I think I can do some stuff so show the capabilities, definitely let me know if you have any other suggestions. And yeah I haven’t found any software differences besides them accommodating for color

[@jesusnunez1735]

Writing feel between the a6x2 and the rmpp? Which one is better?

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Honestly, too early to tell. They are different for sure. All I’ll say is that Supernote is still more like pen and paper where the RPP is more like pencil and paper

[@jesusnunez1735]

Thank you! I have a nomad already, on the fence on purchasing an rmpp. I’ll wait and see.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah that’s fair! I’ll be having more direct comparisons soon!

[@jesusnunez1735]

@@Graf-XTechReviews awesome man! Like your vids. Keep up the good work 👍🏽

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

I’m glad you like them! And I’ll definitely keep it up!

[@BartmanSA]

I am getting a Remarkable. I just have not decided which one. I borrowed the Remarkable 1 from a friend and love it. But he asked for it back so I need one for myself. At the moment, I think I'm going for the Remarkable 2 because it is better than the Remarkable 1 in terms of battery life. Why not get the Paper Pro I hear you say? I have never been a colour guy when I used paper and pens so colour is not that important to me. If it is then Paper Pro is probably the way to go. I really don't like flashing. It is distracting. I don't download pdfs anyway. I just want a digital notepad, just like a paper notepad. So I think Remarkable 2 is the one for me. Also, I get the Remarkable 2 and the pen and an off-market cover and boom, All done for about £420.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah that is a good line of thinking. I think the price that you get the rM 2 for makes it more worth it in a lot of ways than the paper pro unless color is something you really need. Thanks for sharing! I will be doing a direct comparison between those two as soon as I’m able!

[@deeb81]

​@@Graf-XTechReviewsPlease do the comparison soon! 😂 I'm so torn between the RM2 and RPP. Would love to see your thoughts on them side by side

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

@deeb81 yes that is definitely my plan! I’ve been out of state this whole week and will be heading home tomorrow, starting Monday I’ll get cracking on more videos!

[@georgeclarke163]

Many thanks for an honest review! Very welcome after all the 'glowing' reviews on KZbin and Facebook from those 'customers' that have been given a free sample in return for a favourable reply. You have covered the main failings of this device. To summarise: Massively overpriced Poor processor Very poor graphics Very poor ram and storage No sd card expansion Very slow screen refresh No way to search notes other by tags -surely the most useless 'feature' No camera - surely users would wish to photograph research material No integration with many other important business apps Useless as an ebook reader Non-existent customer service - it is impossible to contact them by phone and speak to a human being Useless company, useless products! Keep up the good reviews. Best wishes.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Glad that you enjoyed the review. Yeah I’ll be honest, all those very sponsored reviews were really bothering me as well. I’m not necessarily against sponsors or people being sent things, but when they are basically sent a script to talk about the device and they are heavily restricted on what they can saw…that’s when it’s a bit more frustrating for sure. Yeah this device is definitely lacking some things that I would like to see, but more thoughts on it coming soon!

[@MyLifeInTheDesert]

I’m so close to getting this to replace my iPad and GoodNotes but I need a real search option for work. I can’t tag everything so it will be searchable later. Why is this so hard for them to do ? I’m genuinely asking

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

I totally get what your saying, the hardware is amazing, but it’s like weird things that are missing in the software. Things that you think would just be obvious!

[@--chris--]

Is there no way on remarkable to type the name of the document in search? 😮 so if i have 100+ books to upload, how am i supposed to locate one? I have my files named after author/date/title. I assumed i could type any part of the file name to search for it. That’s not the case?

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

@-chris- File name search should work, but he’s more referring to searching specific things in a note. Hope that helps!

[@--chris--]

@@Graf-XTechReviewsthanks !!

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Glad to help!

[@jinwan3088]

Ooooh look at those Transformers toys!

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Oh yeah! My pride and joy😂

[@jinwan3088]

@@Graf-XTechReviews Yeah mine too! :)

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Haha nice! Are you more of a live action fan or the original cartoon?

[@jinwan3088]

@@Graf-XTechReviews Whoa that's a tough question! I have the entire original G1 Transformers cartoon DVD set plus the Transformers movie - I grew up with it. I also have every single live action movie on Blu Ray (I know I know, so yesterday, LOL). So actually, I love the original cartoon (watched the series once on TV and twice on DVD) because it's the OG, and truly the best. But I also love the live action, especially the first one because man, when I first saw the "live" version of Optimus Prime, I had goosebumps! If I have to make a choice, I'd say the original cartoon edges out the live action a little bit. (that's because they messed up the Transformers live action series as the series progressed...). I also have a whole bunch of Transformers toys in my cabinet...

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Nice nice, yeah that’s pretty much how I feel as well! That’s awesome!

[@拳坛快讯]

This is a compromise made by the Remarkable team for users who want backlighting and color.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

It’s true, and for those who have been waiting for a reMarkable with those features, they’ll probably be really happy with this. But there are definitely ups and downs

[@TheVorst]

If you look at the RMpro camera views, the screen and borders are looking really grey. I saw other KZbins and the front of the RMpro looks really white (but on the warmer tint). Any idea why?

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

It could be differences in lighting, I definitely don’t have professional lighting equipment in my setup, but I do my best with what I can. In future videos I want to include plenty of B-Roll that shows it in different lights. But honestly in person, it seems kinda gray to me.

[@JonDisnard]

I want this kind of device so bad, and Remarkable seems to pair these OEM devices with decent software. This is pretty much the first generation of true color eink, and the market is hungry for this kind of device. I like minimal software, but not pathologically minimal software. As a college student this thing is so close to meeting my requirements, but that last little bitty gap might as well be an infinity. The minimum specification would be cloud storage to any of the big providers like Google or Microsoft, where I can then access materials provided by the institution. Stuff like text books in pdf, lecture notes, etc... But then again, and on second thought, maybe this would work. Ultimately I'm trying to reduce paperwork that I generate.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah I totally get that. I think there are some neat things about this device, and there are gonna be scenarios where this is the perfect device for someone. Unfortunately I do really feel like their software is ridiculously minimal and to the point where it’s no longer distraction free, because I’m distracted trying to find a work around. This hardware with Supernote software, well, that’d be just about perfect in my opinion. So are you saying lack of Google/Microsoft cloud storage is your biggest hang up?

[@JonDisnard]

@@Graf-XTechReviews Many if not most schools from a university to a public school use either Google or Microsoft productivity suite, not to mention many employers too. So I can see not having app support for the various document formats, but at least having a way to access the respective cloud storage would be a nice compromise. I saw on another video that accessing the files on this device is done via gatekeeper apps on the computer of mobile device, or by navigating to a local IP Address when connected over USB. Seems like it could work, but those are a lot of hoops to jump through.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah it definitely is, I wish it was a lot easier. Thanks for sharing this, it’s a great perspective. There’s a lot to love about remarkable! But also still some hang ups and frustrations. Let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like me to look into for you

[@TheVorst]

It find it striking that so many people are stuck in paying 36$ / year subscription service for Remarkable Connect. It provides auto sync, OneDrive and GoogleDrive support. I have a Supernote, but the free cloud support is not nearly as convenient as what the Remarkable delivers. It is just a cost of 1 small diner / year. It is one of the reason I'm switching to the Remarkable.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

@TheVorst that is actually a good point! I would probably be in favor of companies like Supernote doing that if it added all the functionality that reMarkable has, thanks for sharing that!

[@vvvv4651]

very rare remarkable review that isnt a covert sponser shill. sick.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yes, there are a lot of those! Glad I am able to give very honest reviews!

[@andriawilliams6]

Just received mine 20 minutes ago. This is larger than it's the Remarkable 2 so the typfolio does not fit. I didn't know this, since I did not purchase the new typefolio when I purchased the device. I ordered on Sept 5th and received my shipment September 23rd. There are currently now readily available options to protect this device. I regret this purchase already. You may want to wait until there is less demand and more protection options.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah that’s a good point, it is a newer device and a different design than the previous version, thanks for sharing!

[@johnkabel285]

There is an old adage, that you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. Starting out your use of the reMarkable with negativity does not bode well for your success in freeing your mind to make the most of your ideas.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

I don’t disagree with that sentiment, but there are a couple reasons why I think this is a little different. 1st) this is not my first experience with reMarkable. My very first e-ink device was a reMarkable 2 and I loved it! The writing experience was unmatched! The only thing that I felt was annoying after using it a while was just some of the software limitations. I liked it so much that I wanted to do MORE with it. That’s why it’s frustrating to me. It’s actually limiting my mind to work and think in only a certain way and that’s not for everyone. 2nd) I wasn’t just hating on the device. The purpose of a first impressions video is to actually give you what my first impressions are! I really want to just say that it is perfect and what I’m going to use for sure for myself, but that wasn’t my reaction. Stay tuned for a more comprehensive review coming on the channel! I’m not ever going to be one to be negative for the sake of negativity, but I’m also not going to pretend something didn’t stick out to me and bother me during first impressions. And maybe after some time to adjust, it’ll be way better! We’ll see! Hope that helps! Sorry for the long reply, I just didn’t want to give the wrong idea!

[@MarcelloBranca]

send it back 😁😁

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

It’s something I’ll consider, but I want to give it a full chance and test it out a bunch

[@dmar192]

get a better overhead light. you need a spot light on that to see the color lol.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah the colors are definitely not as bright as I would like!

[@georgewashington3012]

It might be an interesting impulse buy for $200 or less but this thing starts at $579.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah I understand, it’s not a cheap device by any means

[@bistduschlau9889]

This is really a weird review. All you do is talking about black not being black. But not about the possibilities this tablet has to offer: colors! I will not write with colors. They are there for highlighting stuff or make some diagrams which works much better with color. I think in combination with the keyboard this is the best solution for studies. I will use it for my notes in my studies all the time. Instead I use my Supernote A6X2 for my notes in my work and as a notebook in general for example for documenting my training plan and exercises. It just depends what tool to use.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Totally, that’s absolutely true, it really just depends. I would just like to say that this was by far not a full review. In fact, I make it very clear that it is an unboxing and first impressions video. I’m working on the full review, and I’ll definitely be covering the useful aspects of color. But those where all of my initial impressions because that’s what I noticed first. But thank you for sharing what you use it for. That helps me give a better review once I actually finish it.

[@bistduschlau9889]

@@Graf-XTechReviews Looking forward for your full review! Colors are also wonderful for formulas and for visualizing changes in them and stuff like that. Without colors this is not possible.

[@savrah]

Why the screen is so dark?

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Are you saying with or without the front light? Or just in general?

[@savrah]

In general, also very poor value for the money. Does very little and doesn’t do it well.should be $200 max.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Don’t know if I’d quite say $200 max, but I get what you’re saying, I do think it is somewhat overpriced. And the front light is really only a night time reading light and I think the rest of it being dark is just the screen tech they used. I’m wondering if the color e-ink has dulled the screen a bit.

[@bencarlisle7878]

​@@savrah200 max? Lmao

[@IamERAMOS]

I just cant physically and mentally justify the price and features vs buying a Samsung tablet that can do everything this tablet can and far far far more. o- o Is it the intentional limitations that attracts people, because newsflash, our brains already does that for us.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah I totally get that. This is definitely NOT an everything tablet and I think that’s a dealbreaker for some. And yeah, a lot of people consider their minimalism to be a plus. So my take is that I don’t mind getting a device that’s focused, I even understand the goal of not having distracting apps on the device, but I still feel that overall reMarkable is too limiting and that makes it frustrating for me at times.

[@shrtblondie1]

You use white once you have colored something in😂 example black box then white font

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Well yeah I get that, I was more wondering if it seemed like it brought white ink particles to the surface or if it just removed the particles that was there. The screen tech they use is supposed to have white ink particles in it, but it seemed more like it was just removing them. But yes thank you, I do understand that it has a practical purpose, but I should’ve been a bit more clear

[@slothsarecool]

Looks a bit underwhelming

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah that was kinda my reaction to it, I was hoping it’d wow me a bit more

[@bdouglas]

This review was painful to watch. All I heard was whining.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Sorry you feel that way! Is there anything in particular or any subject that I spent too much time on? I would love to improve in the future, but I need a little bit more specific criticism in order to do that. I would also like to clarify, I wouldn’t call this a review, this is an unboxing and you guys being able to see my first impressions on the product, so yeah this is basically my raw unfiltered first impressions. Some opinions may even change, stay tuned for my full review, to see all my thoughts on the RPP

[@baltgames1]

Colors, flickering and darkness is big problem! Just don't like it! Not ready yet!

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

Yeah those are definitely some pretty big downsides! I’m still trying to hold back some of my final thoughts I test it more, but we’ll see, that might be my conclusion!

[@requeteque1970]

your review really sucks. ranting and ranting not really objective and left me confused I just unsubscribed.

[@Graf-XTechReviews]

I’m sorry, that was your take away, although I wouldn’t really call this a review. It was a little unrefined because it was all my first and gut reactions to the product. I will be doing a more full review and hopefully that will be more what you’re looking for. I’m very open to the criticism and appreciate you voicing it. Although it’s a little hard to know what I can improve without some more specifics. Are there things in particular that I can do better on? I allow myself to “rant” a bit more with first impression videos, but other than that, what can I do better?

[@MyLifeInTheDesert]

@@Graf-XTechReviewsdon’t listen to him - people are ridiculous

[@Just_virge]

You know sometimes you just want a video just like this where someone is talking through their thoughts and ranting especially late at night when you’re perusing and not looking for a super polished review that feels forced.. I prefer this natural approach!! So you can’t be everything to everybody. Just keep going 😊

[@howardwologritz2355]

I thought it was a decent review... ignore the other dude

[@georgeclarke163]

You have obviously not paid attention to the review.